Getting Married? Prepare For Disaster

Wedding planning requires some forethought, and a good amount of disaster planning: What will you do when there’s a hurricane in the forecast, or the reception hall goes out of business or the photographer’s camera malfunctions? Or all of the above?

Rather than allowing Bridezilla (and Groomzilla) to rampage, experts say it may be prudent to consider wedding insurance, which covers expenses lost to a variety of problems. According to Travelers, 31% of the wedding insurance claims it receives relate to vendor or venue problems, 19% to illness or injury, and 10% to severe weather. (Not to give you something else to worry about, but another 13% of claims involve vandalism or theft of wedding goods.)

But wedding insurance isn’t always a good investment. Premiums can represent as much as an extra $500 out of the wedding budget for coverage you hopefully won’t need. Policies don’t encompass everything that could go wrong, either. For example, many won’t pay if the bride or groom gets cold feet, although such “Change of Heart” coverage may be available for parents or other family members paying for the festivities, if they want to be the ones to take out the policy. Insurers don’t include that coverage when the bride or groom is the policyholder.

In this week’s edition of the ‘Getting Married’ podcast, MarketWatch’s Kelli Grant and Wall Street Journal Radio’s Mathew Passy talk to Loretta Worters, a vice president at the Insurance Information Institute, about what wedding insurance does (and doesn’t) cover, the typical cost and how to decide if you need it.

Comments (5 of 5)

We attended a wedding during a hurricane. A lot of people couldn't make it, and the plans had to be changed considerably, but it was fun!

10:42 am March 8, 2013

tough to replace wrote :

My wedding was on a hot day in May and the A/C of the venue went out during dinner, making it tough for people to enjoy themselves fully. Of course, the venue contract absolves them of just about everything and we weren't able to recover any money. How would a loss like that be monetized?

6:59 am March 8, 2013

The Practical Economist wrote :

"...for coverage you hopefully won't need..."

That is exactly what insurance is. It's not about the likelihood of it happening, it's about the extent of financial chaos if it does happen.

4:46 pm March 7, 2013

Jessica wrote :

My wedding was the weekend after Hurricane Sandy on 11/3 in Northern NJ. My husband and I were very fortunate in the fact that everything went off as planned (or better than planned!) --- despite no power, no gas, flooding, etc. All of the details fell into place to the tea. My reception hall even gave me money back for those who could not attend. Hurricane Sandy was not something I would have ever thought to plan for - it never crossed my mind that a freak storm would hit the entire tri state area. I did not have to be bridezilla for any of this to happen. However, I would recommend travel insurance on flights & vacation bookings.

2:53 pm March 7, 2013

Mike wrote :

More prudent to elope. (Hint to daughter!!!!)

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